A drum virtuoso revered in both jazz and pop circles, Mark Guiliana has never been content to rest on his laurels, relentlessly seeking to carve out new stylistic ground. Born in 1980 in New Jersey, the drummer made a name for himself as a sideman—most notably, recording with David Bowie on the rock legend’s 2016 swan song, Blackstar. Guiliana’s reputation as a bandleader grew through the psychedelic, hip-hop-influenced fusion of his Beat Music collective: the cosmic funk of 2014’s The Los Angeles Improvisations (“Flaw & Order”) and 2019’s lauded BEAT MUSIC! BEAT MUSIC! BEAT MUSIC!, with its distended samples of human speech (“BUD”). Meanwhile, Mehliana, his superduo with pianist Brad Mehldau, embraced IDM and drum ’n’ bass. Giuliana’s body of releases also includes drumming highlights in a conventional jazz context—see the ever-morphing post-bop of 2015’s Family First and 2017’s Jersey.